Competitive manufacturing enterprises seek to efficiently coordinate the manufacture and
distribution of products and are therefore required to integrate plant and business systems. A
key enabler of this aim is Information Technology (IT), specifically Manufacturing
Execution systems (MES), which offers several benefits including increased operational
efficiency. However, often existing MES don’t integrate manufacturing processes and
systems; also MES projects are sometimes unstructured and rely on heuristics for successful
implementation. The informal approach to optimisation, results in a longer development time
and often systems implemented are inefficient. Considering these issues, this research report
has addressed the research question “How can Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) be
optimised using a reference architecture developed from standards?” The methodology used
to answer this question consisted of an MES optimisation approach developed from
authoritative sources. The approach consisted of an original MES reference architecture
developed from relevant standards and key requirements of IT (Information Technology)
frameworks. This approach was applied in a case study at Sasol, resulting in proposed
improvements to manufacturing processes and MES technologies. Due to expected increases
in operational and technology efficiency cost benefits were expected. Considering the
challenges of existing MES and projects, this research report answered the research question,
showing how MES can be optimised using a well defined reference architecture.

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Optimisation of manufacturing execution systems using a standards developed reference architecture